


In the Dead of the Night.

by NiyanaIsNotSane



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Halloween, OC’S - Freeform, Rating change due to swearing, Reposted to match the spirit of the season, Slice of Life, Sonic’s first Halloween, Trick or Treating, Wachowski family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26868676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiyanaIsNotSane/pseuds/NiyanaIsNotSane
Summary: The spirit of Halloween has finally arrived in Green Hills, Montana and the festivities are the talk about the town.As this is Sonic’s first ever Halloween being around actual people, he is determined to make this the most spook-tacular holiday he’s ever had. But will he gather more treats than he can carry or will the tricks end up being his worst enemy?
Relationships: Sonic & Maddie, Sonic & Tom, Sonic & Tom Wachowski, Sonic the Hedgehog & Maddie Wachowski
Comments: 12
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Spooky month everyone! 🎃.  
> Yeah so for those wondering why this story is being posted again, I eventually decided to just delete the original and repost it to actually feel more like a story that took place on Halloween and continue from there rather than have it staring in June like I had originally planned to do. It just made more sense to me since it’s officially October now.

The brisk autumn breeze blew through the forest and rustled the last hint of leaves as they almost fell from their branches, bringing a mild chill to air. Tom felt the leaves crunch underneath his boots as he neared the small house at the end of the block, keeping Ozzie at bay with a firm grip on his leash whenever a squirrel would cross their path.

Climbing up the steps to the porch, Tom rubbed his hands together as he unhooked the leash from Ozzie’s collar and let the retriever inside the house, grabbing the day’s newspaper that was left on the welcome mat. 

He shivered and scrunched his shoulders as he looked out onto the front yard, it was almost completely covered in red, orange and brown leaves that had fallen off the trees during the past week. The garbage cans that were left on the curb were once again tipped over, spilling some of the trash onto the sidewalk and spotting the culprits in the woods across the street, still greedily munching away at the rotten food they caught.

"Living in a wooded area sure has its perks. I’ll have to clean this up later, that or I can just make Sonic do it, maybe I can make him tell them to leave our trash alone for once." He silently laughs at the joke as he locks the door behind him and hangs up his coat as Ozzie walks over to his water dish and quickly laps a few gulps of water. 

Taking off his shoes, his ears pick up music quietly playing in the other room as he sees Ozzie in the corner of his eye trudging over to his worn doggie bed near the couch and flops down on it, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Hello? I’m home!" Tom looked around and glanced into the dining room where he could see Maddie sitting at the table with her laptop, with a pile of papers and a steaming cup of tea nearby, deeply reading to where she didn't even notice him waving at her. 

_ 'Yeah, there's no point.' _ She was currently in full work mode or as Sonic liked to call it, her  _ 'boring robot mode' _ . He decides to let that go and instead looks down at his watch for the time.

_ 'It’s gonna be dark pretty soon, I wonder if he's getting ready yet?' _ He walks towards the bottom of the stairs and glances up, seeing the door leading to the attic was closed.

"Hey Sonic! You up there?" He doesn't hear a reply but quickly picks up a small whooshing by his ear, he turns his head towards the living room but sees nothing there.

Puzzled, he turned his head back around and noticed that the door was now open ajar with a part of the ladder hanging down, this was quickly followed by a flash of blue passing near his arm and disappeared behind the couch. Tom stiffens up, realizing what was about to happen, he shifts his eyes frantically as he walks back over towards his wife. "Hey Mads?"

"Hmm?". Maddie kept her head glued down as she looked at the screen of her laptop, Tom made his way over and placed his hands on the table as he leaned against it, whispering to her. " _ Maddie _ ."

Maddie lets out a groan and gives him an annoyed look. "Yes Thomas?"

_ ‘Yikes what’s with using the full name?’ _ He leans forward as he lowers his voice. "I think I'm about to get ambushed for the third time today and I really don't feel like going through that again right now."

Maddie raises an eyebrow as she closes her laptop. "You seemed like you were having fun when it happened earlier." She gives him a little smirk as she stacks her papers together.

"Yeah  _ earlier _ , but I just came back from walking Oz, to which he was acting extremely crazy today due to all the poor squirrels he tried to hunt down and now I feel like I need a half an hour on the couch cause I am absolutely beat." He swore he could hear his own voice crack with exhaustion.

"And you're telling me this because….?"

" _ Because _ this time I would appreciate the help and I probably have about 10 seconds until he tries to pounce on me again."

Maddie shrugged her shoulders as she rose from her seat. "It's not my fault that he thinks you're a worthy target."

"What does he mean by that-ARRGH!" His voice cuts off and stumbles forward as he feels two small arms swing around his neck and a pair of feet thud hard against his back, hearing a loud, high laugh in his ear.

"You keep letting your guard down! That’s why you're so easy to ambush!" Sonic let out a yell as he clung onto the man's neck in a very loose choke hold and tried to climb up onto his shoulders.

Tom slumped his shoulders and stood with a grouchy look as the hedgehog continued to hang off of him. "Sonic,  _ please… _ .. _ just let me rest for 10 minutes _ ". Despite hearing the tired plea pour out of the man's voice, Sonic continued to try and climb on him like a jungle gym.

"You know the rules Donut lord! Either you tap out or finish the fight!" He retorts back playfully, still trying to unsuccessfully get him off balance as he sits on his shoulders and grabs both of the man’s ears.

“Maddie?” He sees her merely shaking her head as she walks out of the room, leaving the two of them alone. Rubbing a hand against his face, he slowly got onto his knees and started to lay down fully on the ground. 

“Oh no, you got me again _._ _I’ve been defeated by the all mighty hedgehog._ ” He groaned as he laid his face on the floor, his unenthusiastic voice brought a pout to the hedgehog’s face as he sat on the man’s back.

“Grade F for that disappointing performance.” He tilted his head curiously at his weary appearance. “Why do you sound so tired?”

“Because I am tired and probably not going to move from this spot for at least an hour.”

Sonic moved off him and walked over to where his head was, laying on his stomach and placing his head in the palm of his hands, his little legs thud against the floor as he looked at his guardian. “But did I actually scare you just then?” 

Tom moves his head slightly and furrows his eyebrows. “Can’t really scare someone when they already know that you’re sneaking up on them.”

“What? That noise you made didn’t sound like someone who wasn’t scared.”

“Sorry bud, I still haven’t exactly recovered from the last two ambushes so that’s something to take note of.” He lets out a loud yawn and starts to doze off. “You gotta try harder than that.”

Sitting up in a crisscrossed position, Sonic pondered for a moment. “Try harder huh? Ok then.”

His ears twitched as he jumped up and ran up the stairs to his room, unaware that Tom was still sleeping in the middle of the hardwood floor.

=========•••••••••••••••========

_ ~ _ **_One hour later_ ** _ ~ _

Letting out a pained groan, Tom moved his shoulders and neck as he walked to the window. “Geez my back is killing me.”

“I still can’t believe you actually slept on the floor like that.” He could hear his wife’s voice from behind him with a hint of amusement.

“I told you I was tired. Besides it was pretty comfortable….for the first 15 minutes at least.” He muttered, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it.

“Man, these stocks are seriously not getting better.” Tom muttered as he walked around the room. “I don’t know why Spencer was so keen on putting money on them.”

He walked over towards the island in the kitchen, where Maddie was pouring herself another cup of tea and going over notes for her next appointment. “I guess he wants to do something more than working at the gas company?”

“No that’s not it, he still wants his job but he always wanted to try it due to how much you can eventually make by adding to them.”

“Did he seem fond of the idea at first?”

“I mean I guess, he said he wanted to get some extra money from the points when Christmas rolls around.”

"But it's the end of October, he should have done that earlier and earn it gradually instead of waiting this late."

"I know hon, that’s what I told him too."

Maddie smiles behind her cup as she takes a sip. “And due to your tone, I guess it didn’t work out?”

“Maddie, the man lost at least $2,150.”

Her mouth dropped as she placed her mug hard on the table, spooking Ozzie underneath the table and earning an irritated growl from the dog. “Oh my lord, he put in THAT much?”

“Yep, he didn’t even tell Emily about it either.”

“Oh I have to call her later to see what happened.” She quickly whips out her phone and scrolls through it.

“Well don’t be surprised if she denies everything. Don’t forget she can be very prideful-.”

“ **Toooommm** !” The couple both jump at the sound of a high pitched voice coming from the top of the stairs. Tom grabbed his chest and put his head on the table while Maddie rubbed her forehead before shouting back. “Sonic! Remember what we said about using our inside voices?”

A few seconds pass before she picks up a small whooshing sound coming next to her, revealing Sonic standing sheepishly with his hands behind his back. “Sorry Maddie. I just needed Tom for something real quick.”

“Was it to give me a heart attack? Cause you definitely succeeded at that.” He wheezed out as he caught his breath.

“I did? Aw sweet!” He laughs as Tom shoots him a glare. “But I actually need you to help me with something.”

“Really? What’d you need help with?”

Maddie watches as Sonic trots over to Tom and motions him to his level, whispering something in his ear, who gives a nod in response.

“Maddie, If you’ll excuse us.” He grunts as he stands and walks around the table. “I need to go and do that thing he needs help with."

"So apparently it's a thing neither of you guys want me to know about?"

"Yeah sorry, it's strictly a need to know basi- ok, ok! I’m coming." He stumbled over his feet as Sonic began pulling on his arm towards the stairway.

"Hmm-mmm." She suspiciously watches them as they disappear from view. "Whatever it is I'm not cleaning up the mess this time."

==========•••••••••••••••=======

“Geez you’re getting heavy.” Tom groans as he lifts the hedgehog on the bathroom counter, grabbing a small basket holding small containers of face paint. "Ok, did you want a scary smile or a freaky snarl?"

"Oh definitely a freaky snarl, I wanna see how many people I can scare with a terrifying grin." He eagerly replies as he practices making faces in the mirror.

Tom couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he opened the first tin and dipped the brush in. “Yeah ok, speaking of people, are any of your friends still meeting you for trick or treating?"

"Brian and Liam are still coming, but Maisy called earlier and said that she couldn't come." He quickly closed his eyes as Tom painted around his face.

"Really? Did something happen?" He asked, starting to apply the black paint.

"She said that her mom found out about the last three tests that she took had bad grades on them and told her she couldn’t go.”

"Ouch, didn't know Mrs. Tailor had that in her, especially with how she thinks she's just the perfect kid with how much she brags about her academics scores."

“Yeah, I hope at least Brian and Liam don’t cancel, they’re pretty fun to hang out with.”

"That’s good. It’s always important to have at least a few friends so you won’t be so....well, you know.”

"Oh I definitely know." Sonic shifts his eyes around the bathroom and twiddles his thumbs as silence quickly falls between the two. The topic of when Sonic was alone was still proved to be a sensitive topic when brought up from time to time. Tom cleared his throat as he felt the awkward tension and decided to change the subject.

“So, your first official Halloween without having to hide from everyone. That’s gotta be pretty exciting for you right?”

Almost immediately, he saw Sonic’s face light up as he stared to go on about the treats he never tasted before, seeing the other kids without fearing that he’ll scare them and the type of pranks he can pull with his speed which earned him a firm head shake from Tom, stating if he’s caught doing that, he would be treated to a earth term he’s heard before, getting grounded.

He applies the last of the paint and motions Sonic to the mirror. “And you’re all done, what do you think?”

Standing on top of the counter, Sonic looks eagerly in the mirror, his face quickly dropping as he stares at his reflection. “I look so....not scary.” Granted the way that the paint covered his face looked impressive, but it didn’t carry that full effect that he wanted.

The "snarl" painted around his mouth was slightly crooked and the points on each tooth weren't even with each other while the black paint around his eyes made him look less sinister and more like he was sleep deprived, sickly even.

“Hey cut me a break, I’m not used to doing masterpieces like this.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call this a masterpiece, it kinda looks more like a poor elementary school painting.”

“Oh everyone's a critic.” Tom gives a playful flick to his ear as he walks out of the bathroom while Sonic continues to look over the crude paint design.

_ 'There's one way to see it's really worth it, time to test it out with the full package.'  _ He jumped down from the counter and zipped to the ladder leading to his bedroom. "And I know just who to test it on."

==========•••••••••••••••=======

"Elementary school painting? Geez didn't know the kid could be so harsh." He walks into the kitchen and sees that Maddie is still going through her phone.

"Are you  _ still _ trying to reach Emily?"

"Ugh  _ yes _ and she hasn't texted me back yet."

"I was only gone for like 15 minutes and besides she's probably busy with getting her kids rounded up for tonight."

"I wonder if Sonic could ask her kids if they know anything."

Tom stops abruptly, looking at his wife with concern. "It's one thing to be all up in someone's business, but using an innocent child to do your bidding?"

"I wasn't going to actually ask him! I was going to see if they just said something to him when no adults are around."

"Even though it's a different equation, it's still the same result, honey."

"Oh nevermind, I'll just ask her tonight when we meet them later."

"You do that." He mutters to himself as he walks over to the window, pausing as he sees Sonic in the corner of his eye peeking from around the wall.

Tom watches idly as he sees him making a quiet sign at him and points towards Maddie, bending his knees in a running stance as he pulls up a little blue hoodie over his head and quills. 

He gives him a quick wink, turns around and faces Maddie at the table, trying not to give attention towards the hedgehog stalking up behind her. "Soooo, do you think the kids will like the candy we're giving out?"

Maddie puts down her phone and shrugs. "I’m not sure, I mean this is the first time we're giving out mostly chocolate bars instead of any other candy, it's still a pretty popular candy so I think they might enjoy it-"

" **Rwwwauuggghh** !" Sonic jumped on the table in front of her with his hands in a claw shape and his tongue out, wearing a blue devil costume with a long spiky tail, blue wings, black horns on his hood and black claws coming out of the hands and feet.

Maddie jerked back in her chair, her mouth slightly agape.  _ 'She looks so shocked! Did I actually scare her?' _ He quickly got his answer as she placed her hands over her mouth and let out a muffled squee of delight.

"Oh my goodness, you look so adorable!" His eyes widen and his face falls as she continues to fawn over his costume.  _ ‘Adorable?’ _ He drops his arms as she quickly snaps a picture of him with her phone and gets out of her chair, looking over his costume.

“Let’s see, you're dressed as.....the cookie monster?" Sonic made a choked noise as he stared at her with an appalled look, hearing Tom unsuccessfully bite back his laughs behind him.

He shoots a sharp frown at him before turning back to Maddie. "Um heh no Maddie, I'm not... _.the cookie monster _ . I'm supposed to be dressed as a devil."

"Oh! I see it now, with your cute little horns and tail.” She places a hand on his hood, feeling the texture of the fabric. “Wow, did you make this by yourself?”

“I kinda did but then I remembered I don’t know how to sew at all. So I asked Tom to help me with the extra stuff.”

“Aw that's sweet of him. So a devil? kinda like when Carl called you the Blue Devil?"

"Yeah, but I thought it was going to work as a scary costume. You didn't even  _ look _ scared." He pouts as he jumps off the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just couldn't help it.” She spoke genuinely as she gave him a side hug. He smiles as he returns the hug by wrapping his arms around her leg.

"No, no it's alright. It's obviously because of the crude paint design that your husband did." He smirked as he looked over at Tom.

Unaffected by the jab, he walks past the two. "Says the guy wearing blue footie pajamas that makes him look like a baby smurf.”

Sonic lets out an offended gasp at him.  _ ‘How dare he compare me to those blue shrimps!’ _ "I-!....you-!....I’m! Ugh!" He stomps his foot and zips away and up the stairs to his room. Tom chuckles lightly as Maddie looks at him disapprovingly.

"What? The kid needs to know when to pick his battles. Besides, I think the face paint actually looks fine as it is, thank you very much."

“Ok but  _ ‘baby smurf’? _ ”

“Hey you said that he looks cute, I just simply took it to the next level.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed it! And remember, reviews are a life source for writers. 🎃


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow look at that! I managed to update a chapter when I wanted too for once. Since today is officially Halloween, I made sure to at least make it towards that deadline.   
> *I decided to place a few Easter eggs referencing certain movies in this chapter. See if you can spot all of them*  
> Hope you guys enjoy it! 🎃

The sun started to set over the valley, bringing a slight chill to the already cold air. Kids from all over the town were piling out of cars to meet up with their friends, teenagers holding the hands of their younger siblings in the town square as they talked about which houses to hit first while adults stood around talking and complaining about the chilly breeze.

Sonic joyfully skipped ahead of Tom and Maddie, swinging his arms clutching his flashlight in one hand and his jack-o-lantern bucket in the other, looking around excitedly at the small groups of people wearing their costumes. The couple walked close behind him as they held hands and chatted about the costumes that they were currently dressed as. Maddie had her hair in a low bun and wore a long sleeved teal top with matching pants, a plastic stethoscope hanging around her neck and carried a black messenger bag while Tom wore a plaid tan shirt with a dark brown sleeveless vest, dark blue jeans, brown cowboy boot with a red bandanna around his neck and a red cowboy hat. Much to Sonic’s major disappointment at the two of them for not dressing up as a lord of donuts and a lady of pretzels.

"I'm serious Tom, you need to get a different costume to wear for next year."

"Well I think it still fits considering what my profession is, the kids always get a kick out of it and just look at how cute Ozzie looks". He motions towards the retriever, who was eagerly walking in front of them next to Sonic, who was struggling to fix the saddle as it was starting to slip down the side of the dog's body. “It's a world record for him for keeping it on his body for this long".

Maddie scoffed lightly as she teasingly flicked his hat. "Babe, this is now the fourth year in a row that you've been dressed as a cowboy.”

"Who is also a  _ sheriff _ , so it makes perfect sense!"

“I mean she’s kinda right.” The two look to see Sonic facing them with his hand on his chin, walking backwards. “I remember seeing you guys that one year where you were both dressed as that prince and princess from that one Disney movie that came out a few years ago, everyone said that you look  _ exactly _ like the actor that played the prince. Some of the townsfolk actually thought you were actually him!”

"If I did that also means I would have to sing like him in front of everyone  **_again,_ ** we all know I can't hit those high notes like he can."

Maddie loops her arm around his and places her head on his shoulder. "Oh your singing is just fine. The guy's an actor  _ and _ a model, that's pretty hard to compete with."

"Thanks hon, I just wish I knew how he got his hair to look so luxuriously perfect." He ran a hand through his hair as he looked up solemnly.

Sonic cuts in again. "Uh maybe from the makeup artist and hairstylists that's on set?"

"Nah that hair is too perfect to be messed with, that hairdo is all natural,  _ just like that perfect smile of his. What a man.” _

Maddie looks at her husband annoyingly as he continues to talk about potential hair techniques and better dental planning, Sonic couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he turns around and continues to walk alongside Ozzie, looking at all the different houses and their decorations. _ ‘Man, our house really has nothing compared to these bright light shows.’ _

During his time in hiding, Sonic learned the town of Green Hills, though a fairly rural area, had a few households that tended to earn more financially than others and around this time of the year, they would show off what they had up their sleeves. While the Wachowski’s only had a few Jack-o’-lanterns spread out across their porch, other houses had their porches and lawns fully decorated with tombstones, heavy cobwebs and haunting figurines.

Halloween was also the best way to keep track of the houses that had the best and tasty sweets. Mr. and Mrs. Hart that lived at the end of the road took that prize with their fudge filled brownies that were always freshly baked while Mrs. Nelson being a close second for her slightly over baked snickerdoodle cookies.

But without a doubt the best decorated house on the block belonged to the Parker’s, which is where Brian and Liam lived with their parents Spencer and Emily.

The 2nd floor of the house and roof were decorated with cobwebs and flashing lights while the main floor had jack-o-lanterns all over the porch and tombstones were scattered all across the front lawn, complete with spooky music, haunting ghost sounds and a huge inflatable pumpkin stack that towered over the walkway leading towards the house. Kids were gathered near the front lawn to awe at the decor as the Wachowski’s neared the house.

Turning around once again, Sonic grinned mischievously as he looked at the couple. “Hey guys? It looks like Mr. Electricity's bill is going to be through the roof again." 

"Sonic, you know Mr. Parker doesn't like it when you call him that." Maddie scolds him as they neared the house, making him slightly cower at her tone and smiled apologetically.  _ 'I still think he should take up on it, the guy works at the gas company but yet always has such a high electric bill due to doing stuff like this.' _

As Sonic gets closer to the house, he could see Liam jog out of the house with Brian trudging behind him. A tall man with brown hair and a woman of the same height with light blonde hair were in the front yard, fixing some lights that got unplugged from the bushes, he saw that it was actually Spencer and Emily. The couple noticed Tom and Maddie and made their way over to them while Sonic ran towards the boys.

"Hey guys!" He yelled, Liam let out a high yelp and braced himself as he saw Sonic dash towards him, letting out a relieved sigh as he stopped right in front of him.

"Why does that still get me every single time?" 

"Your eyes still must be too slow to catch up with my natural, awe inspiring, breathtaking speed." He leans his arms in the back of his head and looks at Liam with a small smile.

"Oh shut up." Sonic laughs as he is playfully shoved. They gave each other a fist bump as they continued to chat, Brian looked over at them and scoffed as he pulled out his phone, a light scowl masking his face.

"I like your costume, did you make it at home?”

"Yeah I managed to do some of it but I needed help near the end. Can you guess what I am?" Sonic holds his arms out while Liam looks him over.

"Ehm, are you supposed to be a random muppet from Sesame Street?"

Sonic felt his arms fall limply at his side as he felt his frustration boil up inside his stomach. He breathed out slowly before speaking. "No….I'm dressed as a devil. You see the horns and the tail and the obviously crude face paint?”

" _ Oh _ ... sorry dude, it doesn't help that you look more like a little kid than usual with that outfit."

"Wha-? Oh come on, I don’t look  _ that _ young. I mean I’m kinda small but-, Ugh never mind.” 

_ ‘Geez, Jojo’s going dressed as a vampire queen and that’s apparently even more scary than what I even have on.’ _

"Well if it helps, you might actually scare some of the elementary school kids that are out here. They're usually scared of almost anything."

“Thanks but it kinda doesn't." He replies in a deadpan voice.

"What about that costume you were gonna wear before? The one where you were a cowboy and was going to make Ozzie your horse?"

"Yeah, but Tom was already going as a cowboy so the thought of us matching like that is a little too much for everyone in this town to handle in one night.” 

He saw Liam giving him a bewildered look, his head tilting to the side. “You mean compared to when you fought that crazy doctor guy in that giant floating ship in the middle of town and turned into a live blue electric wire for a few minutes?”

“.......Ok it’s a close 2nd with that comparison.”

"Uh-huh….well can you guess what I'm dressed as?"

Sonic places a hand under his chin as he looks at Liam's outfit. "Hmm due to the long, white coat, black gloves and crazy wig, I’m guessing that you’re a doctor?"

“Not just any doctor, I'm Dr. Frankenstein!" He gives a dramatic pose while flicking the flashlight on and off under his chin.

“Oh nice, so what’s he supposed to be then?” he motions his head over to where Brian was standing, who was still scrolling through his phone. “Is that jacket all he’s wearing? Wait, is he one of the guys from that old movie..what's it called? Oil?”

“I think you mean  _ Grease _ and no. He’s supposed to be dressed up as Frankenstein’s monster, which he promised to do almost three weeks ago!” Liam glares at Brian, who in return looks at his brother with a heavy tilt of his head. 

"Well, I just decided that I didn't want to dress as the monster. How is that a problem with you?”

Liam stomped his foot as he let out a loud huff. "You can't just make a promise like that and go back on it on the day before it happens!" His voice was starting to get higher in pitch and slightly louder, earning some odd looks from kids passing by, including some worried glances from the parents.

"Well I hate to break it to you, but sometimes life works that way and yeah it sucks when it happens."

"You didn't even dress up in anything! If you didn't want to go trick or treating, you could have just told me instead of leaving me hanging like that again!"

"Didn’t mom say you're the smartest kid in your class? You should have picked up that I wasn't going when I didn't have it on in the first place.  _ Maybe she was wrong about that. _ " He spat out the last word with harsh venom in his voice as he stared down at Liam, who equally glared back at him. “Besides they said I can’t let you go by yourself so they just forced me to take you.”

Sonic shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he felt the rising tension between the two, jumping slightly as Brian looked behind his brother and saw Sonic, raising his eyebrows as he looked him up and down. "And what are you supposed to be? A teletubbies reject?"

Sonic eyes widened, offended as he placed his hands on his hips. "I'm obviously a devil! The teletubbies don't have pointy tails, claws and ears!"

He saw the teen let out a laugh as he moved around Liam. "Pfft oh my god, you don't even look scary at all, you look totally ridiculous wearing that." 

Sonic began to bark back but fought against it as he felt his cheeks start to burn slightly and pulled up his hood over his quills, looking down at the ground. Brian merely scoffed at him and walked further away from them as he started talking to one of the teens near the house.

Still feeling the tension, Sonic clears his throat and swung his arms back and forth as he attempts to lighten the mood. “Well geez, he’s certainly more moody than usual today. What was it this time? I’m gonna guess another girl refused to go out with him again?” He waited for a response, only to hear nothing from Liam.

Turning to look back at him, he could see the boy clenching his fists, opening and closing them tightly, his mouth was in a form of a snarl as he glared at Brian, practically shooting daggers at his brother’s back. He couldn’t help but reel back a bit at his friend’s mood. Liam wasn’t usually the type of kid who tended to get mad easily, he was pretty happy go lucky just like Sonic was, if anything he would just laugh it off and continue on in a blink of an eye. This was definitely the first official time he’d ever seen him like this.

“Hey Liam-?” He mentally cursed at himself for the shakiness in his voice.

“I’m fine.” He heard him say abruptly before taking a sharp intake of breath before letting out a long exhale. “I’m fine dude. I just-....I just need to get my stuff real quick and we can go ok?” Before he could answer, Liam took off in a jog towards his house and slammed the front door, alerting the attention of Tom, Maddie and his parents. Emily excused herself to head inside while the other three made their way over to the street.

Spencer seemed to be nearly yakking Maddie’s ear off, not seeming to be worried about his sons and was more interested in telling her something about keeping the fridge unplugged for two days can help save money on the next bill from what he could hear, not seeing the uninterested look on her face as he continued to yammer on. Tom broke away from them and walked over to where Sonic was standing.

_ ‘Ok just play it cool and don’t act like you almost witnessed a catastrophic fight between two brothers that could have been worse than that on scene in that R-rated movie that I’m not allowed to watch. Was it rated R? I wonder why they said I couldn’t watch that one but let me watch Speed all the time with them and that’s rated R. Do they know that? I mean I’m 14 now so I guess that counts somehow-?’ _

"Sonic?" He snaps out of his inner ramblings and sees Tom kneeling in front of him but not looking directly at him, his gaze was over at Brian but he kept his voice low so only Sonic could hear him. "You alright bud?"

He nods, putting on a smile. "I'm good. Brian’s....just moody like that sometimes and Liam’s…...he’s ok too. it's nothing new."

Tom furrows his brows as he turns his head towards the hedgehog, gently clasping a hand in his shoulder. “Are you sure?" He had that look on his face again, that same look where he could always tell whenever he was upset or something was bothering him. To the point where it made it even harder to hide things from him as much as he tried.

Taking that note, he relaxed his face and shoulders as he looked him straight in the eyes. "Yeah I'm sure." 

Tom pursed his lips as he looked over one last time, seeing Emily walking out of the house, going over to Brian and harshly pulling him by the arm, audibly scolding him while Liam followed soon after, a sullen look filled his eyes as he closed the front door. Eyeing the hedgehog suspiciously, Tom stood up straight and gave Sonic a firm yet gentle pat on his head. "Ok, if you say so." 

_ ‘That was...odd’  _ He thought as he gave Tom a puzzled look. He wouldn't give up so easily like that, not until he would crack under pressure. He watched him walk back towards Maddie, who was looking at the both of them with a look of concern until Tom softly murmured something to her, he saw her nod her head and motion him over to them. 

Maddie placed her hands on her knees as she kneeled down to Sonic's level. “Are you still ok with one of us not coming with you?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be alright.” Sonic replied with a wink. “Besides I’ve dealt with worse things than a few teens throwing eggs at trick or treaters and throwing toilet paper on houses. They just need to be careful since they never dealt with me before.”

He saw Tom shake his head behind Maddie while she gave him a soft smile. “Ooh alright Mr. tough guy, just be careful tonight ok?”

“Yes ma’am pretzel lady ma’am!” He gave her a fake salute with an exaggerated serious expression and gave her a quick hug around her legs. She returned the hug before getting Ozzie’s leash from Tom and turning to leave.

Tom side eyed her while whispering down at the hedgehog, leaning down slightly. “Remember our agreement right? You can stay past curfew but you have to be back indoors by 10:30 and no later.”

“Yes sir donut lord si-.”

“Ok stop it.” Tom said in amusement as he playfully flicked his forehead and quickly scooped him up in a tight hug, earning a small groan from Sonic in response. Placing him down, he walked back over to Maddie, giving a wave towards Spencer as he passed by the house, reminding him about the upcoming ultimate frisbee practice.

Sonic waved goodbye as the couple walked away, the two waving back at him as they made their way down the street and around the corner, Ozzie continued to eagerly pull on his leash trying to chase after the other pets on the sidewalk, making Tom stumble on his feet as he tried to pull him back.

His smile started to falter as he could feel a slight, sudden pang starting to form in his chest as he watched them disappear from his view, the feeling was strange but yet somewhat familiar to him, like he didn’t want them to leave and still wanted to follow them, to stay close to them as much as possible. His heartbeat was starting to pound in his chest and could feel his eyes starting to burn. Closing his eyes, he hastily let his candy bucket slip from his hands and hugged his arms against his chest, rubbing the tips of his thumbs against his forearms as he began to hear the sound of crackling slightly rise in his ears underneath his hoodie.

“Just breathe….calm down and breathe. In and out,  _ in and out _ .” After a few deep inhales, the crackling soon disappeared and felt his heartbeat settle back down, the feeling of anxiety still lingered but wasn’t as intense as before. He lightly slapped his face as he let out a sharp breath and swiftly grabbed his bucket on the ground as he turned to walk towards the brothers, who didn't seem to notice his little episode and were gathering up their belongings 

“Alright, we’re all ready then?” Brian gave a single nod while Liam gave him a small grin. 

He could see Emily standing on the porch of the house waving to them as they walked down the street, Sonic waved back while Liam gave a small meek wave in response. Brian simply kept walking ahead of them, not paying any attention to her.

The three made their way away from the house and went toward the first house further down the block. Sonic hung back behind Liam as the two brothers continued to walk at a distance from each other, the two still not speaking a word to each other.

This definitely wasn’t how he wanted to spend his first Halloween with his friends, but he was gonna try his darndest to at least make it an enjoyable one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the reveal of Sonic’s friends Brian and Liam are here! Don’t worry, they’ll get they’re chance to shine in the later chapters.  
> Hope you guys enjoyed it! And remember, reviews are a life source for writers. 🎃


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys, long time no see!
> 
> First things first, sorry for the late update. This chapter took waaayyyy too long to write. on top of that, school got in the way and other things which took it off schedule and delayed it even further which then lead to a rewrite not only for this chapter, but the others as well. It turned out fine in the end, I even made it a little longer as a thanks for your guys patience.
> 
> Happy reading!

“Trick or treat!”

Sonic raised his head up and looked ahead of the line of the current house where he could see a group of kindergarteners in the very front as they were given jumbo sized chocolate bars, gleefully giggling with joy as they ran back to their parents and showed them their candy. The lines for each house were starting to get long rather quickly even though they were only at the 5th house, majority of them already had lines all the way to the sidewalks and nearly to the street.

He couldn’t help but tap his foot impatiently, looking around as the line slowly moved up. “Man, at this pace we’ll only be able to hit half of the houses in town before nine o'clock. Most of the houses won’t be even answering their doors.”

Liam, who was standing next to him let out a noise in agreement as he kicked the dirt with his shoes. “Yeah. Even though we left pretty early, it’s still going to be a tough race to get to the best houses before the adults run out of the good stuff”. 

Sonic could tell that his friend was still heated from his and Brian’s argument but was relieved that he was at least starting to talk to him a little bit. He pulled his hood tighter around his ears and shivered slightly as the wind whipped around his small body, he looked up and could see the cloudless sky now had a pinkish hue to it, signifying that dusk was nearly upon them. Thanks to Longclaw’s teachings, he was always able to tell the time of day without having the need to even wear a watch.

The two children in front of them ran onto the porch as they got closer to the house, Sonic jumped in place with excitement, trying to resist the urge to zip ahead of them as he watched them sort through the candy bucket that was on a stool on the porch. As soon as they stepped away, he immediately speed up the steps and eagerly picked up the bucket, the smile on his face quickly faltered, he saw that the bucket only had one single piece of candy left, it wasn’t even one of those giant chocolate bars he saw the other kids grabbed earlier, it was just a single, silver wrapped Hershey kiss.

Sonic gave Liam a disheartened look, holding up the single piece of chocolate between his fingers. The boy muttered a soft “aw man” as he came closer to Sonic and looked around the porch. He looked inside the now empty bucket and let out an audible groan. “Those dumb third graders took all the good stuff again, god I hate it when this happens”. 

From the sight of the house, the closed curtains and lack of lighting through any of the windows gave the notion that this was all the candy this household was going to give out for the night. The reaction that Liam showed gave a more than subtle hint to the other kids waiting behind them that this house was a no-go, causing them to disperse in different directions.

Sonic stuffed the Hershey kiss in his sweater pocket as he watched the kids race to the other houses, he could feel his legs practically twitching with unreleased adrenaline and just wanting to move faster than the pace he was currently going. Under any other circumstances, he would have done that immediately without a second thought, but he knew there were more important matters at hand right now than just getting candy.

“Hurry up! We can still get to the other houses before they run out!” Liam yelled over his shoulder as he roughly pushed past a few of the kids who were still mingling in the yard and started to run down the sidewalk. Even though he looked in the direction his brother was in, he could tell that it wasn't directed at Brian.

He looked to where Brian was, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk and still sulking just as much as his brother was, staring out onto the street with his head in the palm of his hand. Even though he’d seen him in this state before in the past to where the teen would either just leave the house or hole himself up in his room. It was definitely a rarity to see Brian the Grouch in its full form.

He decided to take a few cautious steps towards him, silently hoping that he doesn’t accidentally spook him, even though it would have been a perfect opportunity to do so.

When he got about a foot away from him, Brian’s head immediately snapped up and he shot up straight up onto his feet. “LIAM! Look when you cross the street you idiot!” 

The loud, harshness in his voice was enough to not only make Sonic jump but also get Liam’s attention, who stopped mid-run and was right in the middle of the street as a black truck slammed hard on its brakes and honked its horn at him. He cautiously backed up as the truck slowly drove past him and made its way down the street, Sonic sped over to him and gently grabbed his arm, seeing his friend have a look of fear morphed on his face as he breathed heavily. 

He quickly led him to the edge of the sidewalk, using the curb as leverage to see his face better. “Liam? Liam are you-”

_ “Dude what the hell?!?” _ Brian interrupted as he sped walked over to them and grabbed Liam by his shoulders to face him, giving him a rough shake. “Why’d you run out into the street without looking first? You could have gotten yourself killed!”

His brother didn’t answer him and continued to breathe heavily, gulping gasp of air. After a few seconds, he put his palms against his face and started rubbing his eyes. Sonic started to worry if he was going to have a panic attack at this rate, before he even had the chance to speak, he heard Brian’s voice aim directly at him.

“And what the hell were you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be the  _ ‘fastest thing alive’? _ Why didn’t you help him?

Taken aback, Sonic’s mouth opened agape and felt himself struggle to form words as he felt Brian’s glare focus down on him. “What-?…I didn’t know he was all out in the street, i saw you sitting on the stoop and was just checking to see if you were okay-”

He quickly felt his mouth shut as Brain quickly closed the distance between them, pointing a finger down at him. “I said I was fine! The last thing I need is more stupid pity from someone else, especially the sheriff’s damn pet of all things!”

Sonic felt like his stomach had been kicked in as those hard words echoed in his mind. He couldn’t even find the strength to form words as he felt his voice knot up tightly in his throat.

_ ‘A Pet? Is that what he really sees me as?’ _

“A what? Brian….why are you-?”

“Just shut up! You didn’t even need to come with us tonight, they probably just wanted to dump you on us cause they couldn’t stand how you are!” 

Sonic took a step back as he looked up at the furious teen. His arms were out in front of him but he couldn’t feel anything but numbness and heard only ringing in his ears as he started to feel sparks form up underneath his hoodie and travel down and around his body.

That caused Liam to snap out of his shocked state and to intervene as he stepped protectively in front of the hedgehog. “Are you seriously calling him that? What the heck is your problem? He hasn’t done anything to you!” His voice cracked as he raised his voice.

“I don’t need him to worry about me when he should be more worried about himself, most of the adults here call him a menace anyway!”

“Stop it! Don’t say that!”

“Well it’s true! Even dad says it!”

He couldn’t even hear the brothers spitting harsh words at each other anymore, all he could feel was his eyes staring to burn as he gently wrapped his arms around his chest, his shoulders hunched as he tried to blink away the tears forming in his eyes and control the soon to be out of control sparks that was starting burn the sleeves of his sweater away. 

Before he even knew it, his legs carried him away from the argument and the world became a blur as he ran, barely hearing Liam’s voice calling out his name as he sped away from them, creating a loud and bright boom in his wake as he ran deep into the forest.

* * *

Sonic felt his eyes burn even more as he rubbed them fiercely with the back of his gloves, the now wet paint that was around his face and mixed in with the rough fabric from his gloves was starting to irritate them as he kept trying to dry his tears, staining the back of his white gloves with a dull grey color. 

The rather loud explosion that he created only cut the power for a few minutes before lights started to turn on again in small portions in the valley. Whether or not it affected the other states' power was only his best guess.

The rock he sat on was uncomfortably hard, bumpy and cool to the touch, it didn’t help at all since his sleeves were practically non-existent at this point and the only source of warmth he had was around his head thanks to his hoodie. He hugged himself tighter as he laid his head against his knees as he shivered against the chilling cold.

The last thing he wanted to do at a time like this was to simply run away and just hide from everyone again, he did enough of that for a full decade’s worth of alone time, but he just couldn’t help it. No one has ever said that to him before, not even in a playful manner, not even someone who he had been friends with for as long as he’s known them. 

He looked down solemnly at the faint lights of the town, watching the moving headlights of the cars weave in and out in the valley and disappearing into the trees and tunnels in the mountains.

“Man, pretty sure i’ll be scolded for accidentally ruining one of my new sweaters  _ again _ . Maddie sounded pretty mad last time when I tore up the…” . He trails off as he remembered how mad she seemed when he tore up one of his new sweaters she bought him, even though she said she wasn’t mad, he just could tell that she was just from the disappointed look on her face.

“And Tom, he might be pretty mad that I caused the power outage in the town again and left Liam and Brian alone like that. _ He might be furious with me, both him and Maddie, they might think I'm a nuisance or... _ ”

“No, stop it. Don’t think of it like that.” He tightly pulled down his hoodie and let out a sigh as he felt his stomach rumble, he reached out to the side of him and let his hand fall down on the rock. 

He blinked once, then twice as he continued to feel around the rock as he looked down in confusion and looked for his bucket only to then realize,  _ ‘My candy bucket’s not here.’ _

He let out a groan. “Aw man, I must've dropped it when I ran off. Argh! It could be anywhere by now!” He plopped hard onto his back and held his hand against his head. This was definitely not the Halloween he was expecting to have this year.

“Maybe I should just head home and call it a night. The guys will be fine without me, maybe I could call them tomorrow when things calm down...” 

Right as he said this, his ears twitched at the sudden sound of popping filling the air. He honed in on the sound and could see faint flashes coming from one of the streets where the power still wasn’t turned back on. He zipped towards the one of the nearest houses as he heard the faint sounds of shouting coming from the road became louder and louder until a large group of bikes zoomed from around the corner, they seemed to consist of mostly teenagers from what Sonic could see as they held up flashing lights and lit fireworks and sparklers.

Squinting his eyes, he could see the bike in the very front leading the group, he could see his features despite the black mask covering his mouth but from the man’s stature and the sound of his voice, as well as the long, unruly hair that flowed behind him. He definitely didn’t recognize this peloton of bikers compared to the others that would drive through, they seemed more mean and in a way, ruthless.

“Oh-” He couldn’t help but let out a gasp as he watched the supposed leader let out a roaring yell and lead his gang towards the next block, the rest of bikes quickly following behind him. He kept up with them as they traveled towards the main square, with parents frantically picking up their kids and getting them to safety while couples standing by either ran for cover or filmed the bikers as they drove by.

The leading man in the ponytail screeched to a halt in the plaza and stood on top of the bike, watching the chaos start around him. He whistled to a nearby biker and was tossed over a huge bullhorn that he caught one handed with ease. Sonic watched from a store rooftop and the man pulled down his bandana and spoke loudly into it. “People of Green Hills! The Rottweilers are back in town and back in business! Let it be known that tonight on this fantastic Halloween, will be a night to remember!” 

Once he finished, a sudden boom filled the air and lit up the sky as screams from the bystanders filled the air. Sonic cowered at the loud noise and looked up to see multiple fireworks filling the sky and ones that were set on the ground caused the streets to quickly be covered in a cloud of smoke.

He watched as groups of kids that were still walking in the street dodged out of the way from being run over by the bikes and ducked and ran for cover as the bikers then started to throw small stones and random items at them, all while yelling multiple profanities and some even successfully snatching some of the smaller kids candy bags under the cover of the smoke and taunting them as they drove off. 

“MOVE YOU SHRIMPS! OR YOU’LL GET RUN OVER!” One of the members wearing a goblin mask cackled as he drove his motorcycle around three kids who were dressed as medieval characters, the oldest of them tried swinging her candy bag at him only for it to be quickly snatched away by the man, the force of grab causing the girl to fall to the ground with a hard thud on her side. The man laughed as him and two other men left the girl crying on the ground as she held her arm in pain.

“Hmph, well that rude behavior certainly won’t do. Not if I have anything to say about it.” With a wide smirk, Sonic got into a running position and took off towards 3 bikers who had split up from the main group. Using his speed, he started running circles around them, clouding their vision with dust and kicking up debris and gravel onto them. 

The men started to huddle together as they tried to shield their eyes, freezing as they suddenly heard a loud, booming voice coming from all directions. “ _ Naughty children that act bad on Halloween night....GET PUNISHED FOR ALL ETERNITY!!! _ ” 

They all started to scream in fright as he started picking up random stones from the street and hurled them at their helmets and torsos from all directions as they got off the bikes and ran towards the woods. 

He watched with a cocky grin as they disappeared from view and glanced around to see where the rest of the main group went off to, not before seeing the one girl from before, still on the ground while the two younger kids tried to help her get up. After a quick sweep, he saw the girl’s bag lying discarded on the ground and quickly picked it up, inspecting it to see it had any rips or tears and raced over towards them.

The two children gasped in shock as Sonic appeared in front of them, he gave a quick smile and turned his attention towards the older girl, who didn’t seem to notice him as she was rubbing her sore arm. He slowly reached out his hand and spoke in a soft voice. “Are you alright?” 

She whipped up her head and had a fierce look on her face before it quickly melted away as she looked at him with a soft gasp. She looked down at his hand then back at him and cautiously took it, cradling her arm against her chest as he helped her up.

“Y-yes.” She wiped her eyes against the palm of her hand as one of the younger kids quickly hugged her waist and hid her face in her sister’s torso, she wrapped her other arm around her sister and gave a small nod. “Thank you.”

“It was no biggie, besides you would have left this behind if i didn’t find it.” He held up the candy bag, the opening now tied in a knot and tossed it over to one of the younger kids. The boy stumbled the bag in his hands as he caught it and looked in awe as he watched Sonic give him a wink before looking over at the youngest child, a girl, still hugging her sister and shyly peeking out at him.

“Are you really the blue devil?” her voice was quiet but shaky as if she seemed frightened by his appearance, to which he noted must be more scary due to his crying session earlier ruining the paint of his face. 

He fondly gave his best smile at her and ran a hand over his quills “Heh, yeah that’s me, I just act scary sometimes when I see bullies picking on other kids.”

“They were really scary, like those monsters in the movies.” 

“Well, luckily i know a thing or two about dealing with scary monsters like them, especially when they pick on little princesses that are trying to have fun with their siblings on Halloween.” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out the Hershey from earlier and held it out to her. He mentally gave a sigh of relief as the girl seemed to relax at his words and cautiously took the chocolate from his hand, giving him a smile in return. 

The sound of glass breaking in the distance gained the four’s attention and looked down the dark street, seeing lights moving across the buildings as they drove farther away from the town square and towards the cul de sac. Sonic ran in place and yelled a quick ‘bye!’ as he disappeared in the blink of an eye, only leaving a dust trail behind him traveling down the dark street..

The three children stared in awe as they watched him vanish into the night and stood in silence for a while before the youngest child spoke up and curiously looked up at her sister. “I thought the blue devil was scary? Why does he look so fluffy and cute?”

* * *

_ *Meanwhile- _

**At the Wachowski Household***

Maddie waved to the last group of children as they walked away from the house and smiled as they ran back to their parents, closing the front door and locking it. She placed the now empty bucket on the bench near the door and stretched her arms above head as she walked into the living room.

“That’s another Halloween finished without a hitch.” She said with a hint of relief in her voice. She slumped down in one of the chairs and took off her shoes as she sat crisscross. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as she could hear Ozzie chuffing near her on the carpet and heard one of the curtains being opened hastily to her right. She glances over and sees Tom looking out the window with his shoulders hunched around his neck and could see that his eyes were shifting back and forth as he monitored the yard.

“You alright Tom?” She questioned with an amused look.

He gave a subtle nod, still staring intently at the window. “Every year during Halloween, we’d get at least ONE kid who had enough guts to throw eggs at our house or at least try to TP the whole place. There hasn’t been a single child out here that has tried to do anything all night, not even a ding-dong ditch. It’s kind of getting me worried.”

“Why be worried? Just be thankful we don’t have to scrape dried egg off our car again” She joked lightly.

He placed his hands on his hips, finally turning towards her. “I can’t explain it. It’s like something’s telling me that something is off, I mean have you noticed that there were less kids that came to our house this year compared to others? It’s like the crowd suddenly diminished in an instant within the hour.”

She took a few steps towards him and peered out the window as well, taking a moment to see the sudden emptiness of the street and lack of foot traffic. “Hmmm, i can see where it seems kind of….strange in a way.”

“More like very suspicious”

“Okay sure, but it doesn’t mean anything bad might happen due to this. It’s been pretty chilly out recently, especially with how cold it is tonight so maybe it’s just a-.” She paused as the phone rang loudly in the kitchen, gaining the attention of both their attention.

“I got it, it’s probably Spencer calling.” he quickly jogged over to the phone and picked it up.

“Hey Spence what’s up-?.”

_ “*Tom, have the boys come back to your house by any chance?*” _ He frowned as he listened to his friend’s voice, it sounded panicked and scared, a little too scared for his liking.

“No, we haven’t seen them since we left them earlier.” He could hear Spencer curse slightly into the phone, he heard Emily’s voice faintly raise up in the background, saying something to her husband that he couldn’t decipher. He could whisper to her, silently snapping at her to calm down and to quickly start the car. 

“Why? What’s going on?” He knew his worry was starting to show on his face as Maddie walked closer to him and gave him a confused look, he held up a finger to tell her to wait and pressed his hand against his other ear.

_ “*We saw sightings of some Rottweilers going near 4th and Labyrinth. There’s been more of them coming down from the mountain and we’re worried that the boys might have gotten caught up in the crowd trying to get away.*” _

He felt his heart beat hard against his chest. He felt his fingers tightly grip the back on one of the chairs as the gears turned in his head and clicked everything together. The Rottweilers? It’s been a long while since he’s heard anything of that group, at least a few years at most. But even so, it wasn’t a case he didn’t care to remember too fondly. 

"Are you certain that it was them?"

_ "*I'm positive, I recognize the insignias on one of the bikes*" _

_ Crap _ . "Ok. Alright I'm gonna call in the other's and let them know what's happening. We'll handle it, don’t worry."

_ “*Well for all of our sakes, I sure hope you do.*” _ The call then ended but all Tom could hear was the dial tone that echoed in his ears. It took Maddie grabbing his arm and shaking him to snap him out of his dazed state.

“Tom, what is it?” she asked with understandable worry in her voice.

“The Rottweilers are back and are running around the town again. Spencer said his sons aren’t back yet so chances are Sonic is with them if they’re still out there.” He said over his shoulder as he rushed up the stairs to the bedroom and quickly grabbed his boot and deputy’s belt. He threw on a sweatshirt and fiddled with the buckle on his belt as Maddie came in, visibly concerned.

“I’m coming with you.” He paused and hung his head down. It didn’t surprise him that she would want to come, she never usually wants to come with him in situations like this. Due to the tone in her voice, He already knew it was for a different circumstance. He considered telling to stay home and be out of harm's way but he knew his wife too well knowing that will just lead to an unnecessary argument.

“Are you sure? It’s going to be a pretty long night at the station with what we’re dealing with here.”

“All the more reason to go with you. Besides, I know I won't be able to go to sleep knowing that Sonic is still out there and not safe at home.”

“Yeah, or better yet he might try to fight the Rottweilers by himself instead of coming straight back here.” He quipped lightly but soon matched his wife’s troubled face upon realizing the truth behind that statement. 

Not a second later, a slight rumble echoed outside the house and sudden vibrations shifted through the house, almost knocking both of them off their feet as the lights in the room flickered before cutting completely off. Maddie gasped as she felt the sudden shift and Tom held her close as the car alarms blared outside as multiple dogs started barking in response to the sound.

The couple was silent as they stood in the dark, listening to the chaos outside. Maddie let out a huff.

“Start up the car now.” 

“Yep, on it.”

Maddie quickly pushed past him to get her jacket while he sped down the stairs and grabbed his car keys. He rushed out the door to his patrol car in the driveway while Maddie hastily slipped on her long jacket over her costume and fuddled with the buttons following close behind him.

Grabbing the door knob, she turned towards Ozzie and gave him a quick pat on his back. “Guard the house for us while we’re gone ok boy?”

Maddie locked the door and ran across the lawn to the street where Tom was waiting for her in the car. He punched the gas as soon as she closed the door and turned on his siren, the bright lights flashing down the dark street as it made its way towards the sheriff’s station. Maddie looked out the window, seeing small groups of people walking the opposite direction their car was driving from unforeseen danger that was only a few miles away.

Turning her gaze away from the window, she looked at her husband's face and noticed that his hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel and had a calm yet stoic look on his face. She gently clasped his shoulder, massaging it with her thumb feeling the tension that was starting to form in the blade. “We’re gonna find him Tom. He’s going to be fine and we’re gonna find him.” Tom kept his eyes on the road but gave a stiff nod in return.

“I’m not worried that we’re not gonna find him, I'm worried if they find him first and knowing what I know….. _ they will. _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed it! And remember, reviews are a life source for writers!


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